It has long been desirable to have a parachute system that can be deployed at high speeds and/or high altitudes, which can also safely deliver a payload to the surface of the Earth or an extraterrestrial planet. Historically, parachutes have generally been divided into two main categories:                High-speed parachutes, which can be deployed at speeds generally higher than 0.5 Mach. Known high speed parachutes are limited in their usage because they provide low drag and are generally not controllable. Examples of high-speed parachutes include, but are not limited to: ballutes, ribbon, guide surface and ringslot parachutes.        Low-speed parachutes, which cannot be deployed at speeds generally higher than 0.5 Mach. Examples of low-speed parachutes include, but are not limited to: parafoils, solid-textile round-variant parachutes, slotted or vented round variants, cruciforms, rotafoils and parawings.        
The low-speed parachute category can further be subdivided into maneuverable and non-maneuverable parachutes. Maneuverable parachutes include parafoil, parawing and some slotted or vented round parachute variants.
Both high-speed and low-speed parachutes have respective intrinsic utilities and weaknesses. For example, maneuverable low-speed parachutes have the ability to provide control over the landing point of the payload, while also affording some control of the descent and landing speed of the payload. These parachutes are limited, however, due to this design's tendency to structurally fail at very high speeds and/or very high altitudes.
Non-maneuverable low-speed parachutes can have high drag, allowing for soft landings. These variants however, in addition to being non-maneuverable, exhibit some of the same weakness as the maneuverable low-speed parachutes, in particular non-maneuverable low speed designs also may structurally fail when deployed at high speeds or high altitudes.
High-speed parachutes may be deployed at high speeds and high altitudes. Known high-speed parachutes generally do not have the capacity to create high drag, nor are they significantly maneuverable. Therefore, high-speed designs cannot be precision controlled nor can they land a payload as softly as a low-speed deployable parachute.
Many known parachute systems require dual parachutes with an initial supersonic or high-speed drogue used to slow the payload to speeds suitable for the deployment of a second low-speed parachute, which may be a maneuverable parachute, a high-drag round-parachute variant or any other type of high-drag parachute. Such systems may be unsuitable for a given use due to the complexity of a two-parachute system and the resulting increased risk of improper operation or failure.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.